Selected prognostic and predictive factors of pituitary tumours in patients with acromegaly (abstract) Pituitary tumours in patients with acromegaly (somatotroph adenomas, pituitary neuroendocrine tumours - PitNETs) are a rare disease with significant morbidity and high impact on economic resources of the health care system. The surgery is the first line of treatment, and while it cures a subset of the patients, another therapeutical approach combining radiotherapy and pharmacotherapy is needed in the rest. This usually includes treatment with costly somatostatin analogues (SSA). On the opposite, the therapeutic response to SSA is not a rule. This work aimed to perform precise clinicopathological characterisation of available tissue samples of PitNETs in acromegalic patients (n=110) from REgistr SEllárních Tumorů (RESET registry) and further explore potential factors related to clinically aggressive disease phenotype (tumour size, invasion, biochemical parameters) and factors that might predict therapeutic response to the first generation SSA. An extensive immunohistochemical evaluation was performed: tumours were histologically subclassified (expression of cytokeratins, prolactin, TSH) and proliferative activity was assessed (Ki67, p53, mitotic count) as well as expression of possible pharmacological...

Conclusions The role of AUXIN BINDING PROTEIN 1 (ABP1) in the auxin management in plant cells was followed using simplified model material of suspension-cultured cells of tobacco BY-2 line. ABP1 is a putative auxin receptor considered to mediate fast non-genomic responses to auxin and it can be involved in every aspect of the regulation of auxin responses, metabolism and transport. There are four major conclusions that could be made based on the results presented in this thesis: 1) Auxin binding protein 1 mediates both cell division and expansion in tobacco BY-2 cells. In standard cultivation conditions or at lower concentrations of 2,4-D in culture medium, ABP1 overexpression had no detectable impact on cell division, cell elongation or cell growth.. 5- times increased 2,4-D concentration stimulated weakly cell elongation. . Antisense suppression of ABP1 expression resulted in disturbance in both cell expansion and cell division intensity, suggesting that ABP1 is essential for the control of balance between cell division and cell elongation during the growth cycle. ABP1 is localized in endoplasmic reticulum of cells cultivated in standard medium supplemented with 1 μM 2,4-D and it appeared also at the plasma membrane following the IAA application. 2) ABP1 mediates intercellular auxin transport. Cells...

v anglickém jazyce NK cells represent a population of lymphocytes which are able to kill certain tumor cells or virally infected cells. The subject of the diploma thesis is a mouse NK cell receptor mNKR- P1CBALB and a human leukocyte receptor hAICL. The mNKR-P1CBALB belongs to the activating receptors and is able to activate the cytotoxic functions of NK cells. The hAICL receptor is a ligand to the NKp80 which is an activating receptor of NK cells. Interaction between these two proteins leads to the activation of effector functions of NK cells as well. The aim of this work was the preparation of the recombinant extracellular parts of receptors mNKR-P1CBALB and hAICL, the optimalization of their in vitro refolding and the characterization of proteins using mass spectrometry. The proteins samples will be used for further structural study of the extracellular parts of these leukocytes receptors.

N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors are a subtype of receptors for major excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate in the central nervous system. Their activity is regulated by variety of allosteric modulators, including endogenous neurosteroids and their synthetic analogues. NMDAreceptor dysfunction is implicated in various forms of neurodegeneration and inhibitory neurosteroids have unique therapeutic potential to act as neuroprotective agens. The aim of this work is to investigate relationship between structure and function of neurosteroids with modifications in the D-ring region, using whole-cell patch clamp recording at recombinant GluN1/GluN2B receptors. In this work, we characterised inhibition effect of 19 neurosteroid analogues on NMDA receptor activity and found several of them to be potent NMDA receptor inhibitors. According to our results, there is a linear relationship of IC50 and lipophilicity of a neurosteroid compound, suggesting the plasma membrane plays an important role in neurosteroid access to NMDA receptor. Indeed, using capacitance recording configuration in combination with amphipathic molecule gamma-cyclodextrin, we were able to separate the kinetic of neurosteroid membrane binding from receptor binding. Moreover, these experiments showed that neurosteroid accumulation in the...

Sexually dimorphic behaviour of the house mouse (Mus musculus musculus) relies on various physical and chemical cues, however, chemical signals are the most essential cues for individual recognition and in causing various priming effects on reproductive behaviour of the receiver. House mice belong to macrosmatic mammals, and thus, their sense of smell is highly developed and is able to recognize a wide spectrum of ligands from other individuals and from their surrounding environment. Volatile signals belong to organic compounds that are produced by most tissues, and may have harmfull effects on cells, and thus they are transported out of the body with lipocalin transporters where some of them may function as signals. These volatile signals are able to stimulate chemosensory neuronal receptors, and thus, yield particular responses in neural circuits. The ligand sensing has a differential effect upon males and females, however, it has not been shown yet in wild mice whether these differences are also caused by the variation in receptors and neural processing, or rather by differential expression of signals typical for each sex. The aim of this thesis was to perform comparative analysis of orofacial mucosal tissues to determine the specificity of expression of particular lipocalins. For the first time...

During cold acclimation the heat production is shifted from shivering to non-shivering thermogenesis, which is mediated by adrenergic signaling. It has also been observed, that cold acclimation may increase the organismal resistence to pathological stimuli and may affect functional parameters of cardiovascular system. However, acute exposure to sever cold is often associated with detrimental effects on the body. We have recently shown that chronic exposure to cold increases the heart's resistance to ischemia-reperfusion injury without negative side effects when mild temperatures are used, however the mechanism of protection is not yet known. The aim of this work was to determine whether: i) if the sensitivity of the heart to ischemia changes already after the first day of cold exposure and does not show any negative effects, ii) if β1-adrenergic signaling plays a role in chronic regimen of cold-induced cardioprotection. The results of this work showed that i) one day of exposure to mild cold did not change the sensitivity of the heart to ischemia and ii) metoprolol treatment reduced the infarct size in the control group, but did not affect the heart of cold-adapted rats. Key words : Heart, rat, beta 1 adrenergic receptors, cold acclimation

Maintaining of homeostasis is essential for the survival of the organism. Stress disturbs the homeostasis and prepares the organism for mental or physical stress. During the stress situation, the endogenous stress factors are released. Through these factors stress affects tissue regeneration, the immune system and other metabolic processes. Chronic stress impacts many parts of body and mind and has a negative effect on these processes. Acute stress has the opposite effect. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) participate in regenerative processes and modulate the immune system. Therefore, it can be assumed that stress will affect on MSCs. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of stress factors, norepinephrine and corticosterone on the properties and function of MSCs in acute and chronic stress model. In our study, stress factors did not affect the morphology, vitality and differentiation of MSCs. However, the metabolic activity of MSCs was reduced regardless of the duration of their action. The action of stress factors also affected the production of some immunologically relevant molecules and proteins. Unfortunately, the results did not show a clear effect of stress factors on the lymphocyte modulation by MSCs. Key words: mesenchymal stem cells, catecholamines, adrenergic receptors,...

Many research articles describes fish oil as a beneficial for health. Mainly for prevention of cardiovascular diseases or that fish oil reduces cholesterol in blood stream. Aim of this study is to investigate effects of fish oil specifically of his parts EPA+DHA, on a modulation of immune system and phenotypic differentiation. For the experiment were chosen monocytes and macrophages obtained from experimental group of animals which was fed a diet consist of the addition of fish oil in an amount 45mg/kg of live weight. Then inflammatory state was induced by LPS. Cells surface receptors were analyze through flow cytometry specifically CD14, CD163, SLA-DR and theirs combinations after they were statistically processed. Results shows proinflammatory effects of fish oil however they were statistically not significant.

Fertilization is a unique biological event where male and female gametes fuse together to produce a new organism. Before the gametes are able to fuse, however, they must undergo a series of controlled changes. For the male gamete, capacitation and acrosome reaction (AR) must occur, which take place during the sperm migration through the female genital tract. Unfortunately, while the process of capacitation has been known for over half a century, the molecular basis and influential factors behind it are not fully understood. Although estrogens have been considered mainly female reproductive hormones, there is increasing evidence suggesting that these steroids have an important role also in regulation of male reproductive functions. Sperm come into the contact with estrogens during their formation in the male and female genital tract, indicating that the hormone may play an important role in sperm maturation. In this study, we examined the importance of three endogenous estrogens (E1 -estron, E2 - 17β estradiol, E3 - estriol) and one synthetic estrogen (EE2 - 17α ethinylestradiol) on sperm maturation during capacitation and AR. Stimulatory effect were observed with all tested estrogens on both capacitation and zona pellucida induced AR. Moreover, we have determinied that the stimulatory effect on...

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus is a polygene disease and on its manifestation have influence also enviromental factors. We have studied the role of extrapituitary prolactin (PRL) and toll-like receptors (TLR) 2 and 4 in the etiopathogenesis of autoimmune diabetes. PRL is mainly produced by hypophysis, but in small concentrations also in the periphery, where it participates in the immune reactions. Therefore, we investigated the influence of the levels of monocytic PRL mRNA on the development of diabetes, and also the influence of G allele of the -1149 G/T polymorphism in the extrapituitary promotor, which has already been associated with other autoimmune diseases. TLRs are receptors of the immune cells that recognize patogenes entering into the body. They play an important role in the iniciation of the immune response. We aimed to find out their function in the pathogenesis of the autoimmune diabetes by the detection of their mRNA levels and protein levels expressed on the cell surface of the monocytes. Material and methods: In this study we included 30 T1D and 21 LADA patients. Three control groups consisted of 23 T2D patients, 23 patients with a nondiabetic disease (neDM) and 60 healthy blood donors (TO). Blood samples have been taken from the individuals. From these blood samples we isolated...